It may be ‘The Death of Slim Shady,’ but Eminem has enough life in him yet as an emcee to make his 12th album worth a spin.

Stream: ‘The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)’ – Eminem

Technically, “The Death of Slim Shady” already occurred 20 years ago on 2004’s “Encore/Curtains Down.“ In the closing moments of the track, Eminem enacted a suicidal skit, which – like much of the rest of the corresponding album, Encore, down to its title and cover art – indicated that Slim Shady had reached the end of his days and now had just been dispatched by his own brainparent.

Not so much, it seems. That part-sinister, part-comical alter ego of the Great White Rapper has continued to surface in various forms on the records he has released throughout the ensuing two decades. Now, however, it appears that Eminem means it this time, given that he’s back, back again with his twelfth album, entitled The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).

The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) - Eminem — The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) – Eminem

Listening to this album is a bit like watching Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, which was purported to be the final Star Wars movie ever (Ha!) and thus played out as a curtain-call celebration of the entire saga, with old characters and in-universe references popping up left and right. Similarly, Eminem has yanked out homages to his back catalog and hurled them all across The Death Of Slim Shady’s hour-long runtime. “So Evil” recalls 2013’s “Evil Twin”; “Lucifer” opens with the same “It feels so good to be back!” howl as did 2002’s “Square Dance;” the long-dormant D12 are recruited for the final moments of “Antichrist”; the “Paul” skits from his first few albums make a comeback; and so on and so forth.

Unfortunately, The Death of Slim Shady resembles Star Wars Episode IX in another, less positive way: at this late point in the author’s career, it’s simply lacking the freshness and energy of some of his previous projects. The production is mostly pretty mellow and doesn’t reconjure the excitement of his peak-era records (the rock-influenced Eminem Show most of all). Plus, given that he’s now 51 and twelve albums deep, it’s hard to shake off the occasional feeling that maybe Eminem’s getting a little old to still be doing what he’s doing, and maybe his stash of innovative new songwriting concepts is growing a little thin.

Enough with the negativity, though. Despite its evident shortcomings, The Death of Slim Shady can still be appreciated as a respectable late-career effort on the part of the veteran MC. His flow remains impressive– he doesn’t try to prove that there’s nobody can out-speed-rap him a much as he used to do (that discussion may well have been settle for good on 2020’s “Godzilla”) but even at medium-speed, he’s still nimble and rhythmic enough to impress. He’s also got a stash of remarkable polysyllabic rhymes still at hand – a solid sample of which appears on “Lucifer,” on which Eminem envisions waking up with “multiple lacerations, contusions, abrasions, bruises, hallucinations, delusions, abusive my language usage. They lose it when Dre produced it – as soon as he plays the music, it’s lunacy.”

Eminem conceded a whole decade ago that he sometimes felt stuck “recycling the same old song,” but it turns out that even some of his recycled song concepts can still retain certain merits. “Conscience 2,” for instance, proves to be a worthy follow-up to his 25-year-old duet with Dr. Dre, even if there’s no Dre in sight this time and if the song’s synopsis (Slim Shady battling some of his inner demons) is actually more reminiscent of 2009’s “My Darling.” And before you roll your eyes and insist you’ve heard Eminem rap about his daughters too often already, know that this concept is given sincere and meaningful treatment on both “Somebody Save Me” and “Temporary,” the latter of which is anchored by a moving chorus delivered by longtime Em collaborator Skylar Grey.

EMINEM’S 11TH ALBUM ‘MUSIC TO BE MURDERED BY’ PROVES A HIGH-QUALITY SURPRISE

:: OUR TAKE ::

Grey is one of many well-chosen guest artists on The Death of Slim Shady – in fact, that winds up becoming one of the major strengths of this project. J.I.D. makes his first team-up with Eminem a memorable one on “Feud,” warning his adversaries that “All of you little cowards get devoured, I’m givin’ out flowers to anyone.” Fellow Michigan rappers Big Sean and BabyTron also achieve a fiery collaboration on “Tobey,” an intelligent choice for a lead single, on which all three declare dominance in the rap game and advise anyone hoping for a little room on their throne that “If you want space, I hope you take your helmet off as soon as you get back to Venus and choke.”

Overall, it may be hard to take Eminem at his word that this is indeed “The Death of Slim Shady.” But although the album named as such may not represent the rapper at his most consistent or innovative, we are talking about a guy who “got bit by a G.O.A.T.”, after all. Even the past-his-prime version of him can still deliver in a variety of respects.

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